Barcelona deny reports of club reinitiating renewal talks with French contract rebel

On Tuesday, reports broke out in Spain claiming that Barcelona had reached out to the agents of Ousmane Dembele in order to restart talks over a contract extension for the forward.

The 24-year-old is in the final few months of his current deal and talks over a new one have been dead in the water since January earlier this year, when he refused the club’s offer and made outrageous wage demands.

With the Blaugrana in no position to meet those demands, Dembele’s fate at Camp Nou appeared to be sealed. However, his performances over the past couple of months have been so exceptional that it had led to talks of a potential contract extension with the Catalans.

Dembele has been in red-hot form recently and has been key to the team’s revival under Xavi Hernandez, scoring one goal and setting up nine more in 12 La Liga appearances.

While president Joan Laporta recently insisted that the situation with the French international had not changed, the reports from Tuesday claimed that the Blaugrana had taken the first step to try and restart negotiations over a new deal.

However, a fresh update from Mundo Deportivo, which cites four different sources from the club, states that Barcelona have made no such move and have not contacted Moussa Sissoko, the agent of Dembele to begin contract talks.

It is claimed that the reports of the club taking the first step came as a surprise to those within the hierarchy while insisting that any hopes of the Frenchman renewing will depend on his entourage approaching the Catalans to reinitiate talks.

Dembele, for his part, is maintaining that he wishes to stay at Camp Nou. However, there is no movement from his camp as of yet, and it remains to be seen if they are willing to establish contact with the Blaugrana in the coming weeks.